Exodus to Arthur: Catastrophic Encounters with Comets

Book Description

This intriguing challenge to traditional views of history, provides explanations for many of the myths and legends that continue to haunt humankind. In particular, it argues that, in the last five millennia, the Earth has undergone several catastrophic encounters with comets and their debris--and that mythology has preserved these events better than so-called "factual" records.

Customer Reviews:

Interesting reading, but with some flaws.......2004-12-01

Let's hit the good things first. The author is a person of undoubted scholarship, reputation, and industry. He specializes in dendrochronology, the science of analyzing tree rings to ascertain the past. By doing so, Dr. Baillie has uncovered several patterns of altered climate within the past six millenia, the last about 536 A.D. That these events were catastrophic seems beyond argument.

Dr. Baillie's discusssion of the science of dendrochronology is extremely informative, as are the conclusions of the physical events that he draws from his work. This much of the book is must reading for anyone interested in paleoarchaeology, as well as more recent events.

I must admit, however, that I am somewhat put off by any attempt to link enormously ambiguous ancient writing with real events, let alone attempts to engraft specific conclusions onto these ambiguities. To his credit, Dr. Baillie largely holds his conclusions somewhat in check, but, even so, portion of the book end up by paraphrasing such discredited "experts" as von Daniken and Velikovsky. It may be that some ancient writings do reflect cosmic accidents, but I am extemely skeptical that most of them do.

Dr. Baillie wholly ignores the undisputed fact that a stupendous volcanic eruption occurred at Rabaul in A.D. 536, and that the even larger Crater Lake and Kikai caldera-forming eruptions occured in centuries immediately preceding 4000 B.C. Yet these events would as equally well, if not better, explain the tree ring anamolies Dr. Baillie has found. Certainly, the timing of these events, particularly Rabaul, is right on the mark. Other timely volcanic events also exist. As a consequence, the book seems to have reached its conclusions without all the facts being analyzed.

This reviewer is also skeptical of the much-publicized Clube-Napier analysis that Earth is frequently hit by large damaging meteor storms, an analysis borrowed by Dr. Bailey in support of his conclusions. No sedimentary or other kindred analysis has ever been offered to support these speculations, espcially the hypothesis that the Irish Sea was struck by a comet in A.D. 540.

Dr/ Baillie's conclusions are certainly PLAUSIBLE, but are they supported with sufficient evidence, apart from ambiguous tree ring discoveries, to attain the status of a testable theory? This writer believes not, and therefore, Dr. Baillie has not made his case, in my view.

Dr. Baillie's text is eminently understandable to anyone with a limited scientific background. However, the smallness of the print makes for difficult reading.

Based on these considerations, I give the book three stars, and recommend it in accordance with the preceding caveats.

Science and Mythology.......2003-08-04

The author is a scientist who first lays out the scientific proof of major environmental events during the past 5,000 years using dendrochronology records (his expertise) compiled from around the world and ice cores from Greenland. After marshalling the evidence to establish the 'effects' he then goes on to speculate about the 'causes', looking at various sources such as volcanic eruptions, earthquakes and other tectonic events such as outgassing, finally moving on to near cometary misses and the associated debris as potential culprits.

Throughout the book, the author ties real science to his reading of historical and mythological texts to present a compelling case; a case which he continously subjects to scientific and logical scrutiny, pointing out the strengths as well as the weaknesses of the case. The book has 8 appendices which are as interesting as the book itself and an excellent bibliography.

I can very highly recommend this book based on the scientific content and methodology of his analyses. This is no loopy guy with a loopier theory. The author approaches the subject in exactly the way such past (and indisputable) environmental events should be analysed vis-a-vis their potential effects on human history, including discussion of why these events may have been historically recorded yet are now overlooked by 'modern' researchers.

This book should put the subject, often pejoratively labled as 'catastrophism', back on the scientific and rational table where it belongs.

Don't judge this book by its cover!!!.......2002-07-31

This book contains incredibly important, scientific observations and conclusions, about the past few thousand years of Earth's history. Unfortunately, the publishers seem to have adorned this brilliant work of science with one of the silliest book jackets I've ever seen in my life. Let me just say right now that I have communicated with the author about this, and the book jacket was NOT his choice.

The author, Mike Baillie, is a highly respected professor of palaeoecology at Queen's University Belfast, in Northern Ireland. More than anyone else, he has pioneered the study of "dendrochronology," which is the study of ancient tree rings, and how widely spaced they are in a given year, to infer climate and weather conditions for the years being studied. Basically, the technique is perfectly logical. In a year with terrible weather, trees grow less. Makes sense, right? Well, indeed, this is always the case, and it is possible to see tiny discrepancies in tree growth from year to year, even today. Now, what would you think if you noticed that, at some time in the distant past, trees seem to have gone several years in a row with hardly any growth at all? Scary, eh? What would this mean to you? Well, if you think it over for long enough, you should conclude that SOMETHING was probably blotting out the sun's life-giving rays to such a great extent that trees simply could not grow. If trees could not grow well, it follows that agriculture probably suffered as well. And if agriculture suffered badly enough, there might even be records of actual civilizations crumbling and vanishing.

Professor Baillie has isolated five such periods, in our relatively recent past. These periods took place in 2354-2345 B.C., 1628-1623 B.C., 1159-1141 B.C., 208-204 B.C., and A.D. 536-545. For each of these periods, he has sought to locate historical records, or at least old legends, which might provide some evidence of terrible times for mankind. Sure enough, he always seems to come through with something or other. My favorite part is the A.D. 536-545 period, for which he has made a faily plausible case of being connected to the old legends of king Arthur's Wasteland. Usually quite a bit of detective work is required here, but more often than not he can make a strong case for something having happened to our climate, at irregular intervals of a few centuries.

The title makes plain what he has concluded to be the likely culprits -- comets and asteroids, and possibly an occasional volcano. Current astronomical theory, in fact, actually does hold that statistically, we really should expect to have been hit a few times since the dawn of civilization. Not by anything as bad as the monster asteroid that immolated the dinosaurs -- we would certainly remember that! But even much more moderate-sized asteroids could reasonably be expected to cause significant, widespread social disruption.

I would like to point out, to whoever is reading this, that TWO of professor Baillie's theories in this book have already begun receiving substantial confirmation, since 1999. For example, Baillie believes that something awful happened to the world climate in about 2350 B.C. One of the biggest underreported stories of 2001, pushed off the front pages by the events of September 11, was the discovery of a asteroid-created crater in southern Iraq. It's almost 2 miles in diameter. Many scientists feel that the crater could be the "smoking gun" to explain the events of around 2350 B.C. If you are interested in learning more about this important topic, you don't even need to stand up. Just open another window on your browser, go to any search engine you like, and do a search for the terms "2350," "asteroid," "crater," and "Iraq." You should get a few hits. If that doesn't work, try searching for "Sharad Master." He is the South African geophysicist who discovered the crater, while looking at satellite photos of southern Iraq. He will be presenting his findings at a conference at Brunel University, in the U.K., at the end of August 2002. Hopefully, this time it will get better press coverage than last year.

The other theory which has gotten more attention, since 1999, concerns the event of A.D. 536-545. If you'd like to learn more about this, I'd like to recommend that you read "Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of Modern Civilization," by David Keys.

"Exodus to Arthur is a really important book, and I don't understand why it went out of print. It must be because of the stupid cover. Well, listen to the proverbs your grandparents taught you, and DON'T judge this book by its cover. Find a copy and read it. Two thumbs way up.

A very good book, with some weaknesses.......2000-06-15

This book is yet another attempt to explain happenings of the past in terms of comet/asteroid collisions. As is usual for these books, this author sees what he wants to see in ancient writings. Yet he weaves the old texts together with his knowledge of dendrochronology to create a solid, if somewhat speculative, work. He is quite limited by his lack of knowledge regarding astronomy, and this weakens the book. Perhaps the biggest trouble the book has is the author's insistence on blaming comet events for environmental downturns, rather than considering that comet events may simply have been taken as bad omens by people of the past. In fact, the events the author discusses could have had other cosmic causes besides comets. Still, the book is very well written and his attention to keeping his ideas in check is refreshing considering some of the junk that has been written on this topic. He does not take the book to any places that are not supported by facts, and he is clearly a real scientist, not a yahoo. I really enjoyed this book.

A very good book, with some weaknesses.......2000-06-15

Average customer rating:

If "Survivor" frustrates your brain, you'll enjoy this
Boring -- Don't Waste Your Time Reading This
Factual? Yes. Interesting? Not so much.
Buy it for any engineer you strongly dislike
What happened?!

The Aftermath: A Novel of Survival
Samuel C. Florman
Manufacturer: Thomas Dunne Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0312266529

Book Description

The year is 2010 and the world as we know it has come to an end.A huge comet has smashed into the earth off the coast of California, vaporizing and generating a fiery rain that engulfs the globe in a destructive holocaust. But at the opposite pole of the planet, there is a "safe zone" encompassing part of the southeast African shore and the southern tip of Madagascar where the damage is extensive but not total.Spared from destruction is a luxury cruise ship, the Queen of Africa, which carries 600 of the world's leading engineers.These outstanding technologists, traveling with their immediate families, are engaged in a seminar dedicated to finding solutions to humanity's eternal needs-shelter, food, energy, environmental preservation, and the like. But when the impact of the comet sends shock waves around the world, the passengers' first priority is to abandon ship for terra firma. Thus they head for the South African coast to begin the task of "starting over."In KwaZulu Natal the passengers find a surviving community of about 25,000, including many experienced agricultural and industrial workers. These people have been cast back, physically, to the Stone Age, but intellectually they are at the forefront of technological progress in the 21st century, and they have at their disposal the natural resources needed to embark on an industrial revolution. So begins an epic adventure of rebuilding the world from scratch, but in an unpredictable, and sometimes hostile, environment, survival itself may be the real challenge.The Aftermath is a provocative adventure story that provides a scientifically sound blueprint for surviving Armageddon.AUTHORBIO: Samuel C. Florman is a civil engineer and principal in a major New York-area construction company. In addition to scores of articles, Mr. Florman is the author of The Introspective Engineer, The Civilized Engineer, Blaming Technology, and his classic, The Existential Pleasures of Engineering. He lives outside New York City.

Customer Reviews:

If "Survivor" frustrates your brain, you'll enjoy this.......2007-09-15

It's sort of a counterpoint to so much apocalyptic or survival fiction where a cross section of average people struggle in a very hostile environment. This story takes the tack of what if you had a fairly complete array of outstanding technical problem-solvers and practical folks in a place with many raw materials and who actually focused on survival, cooperation, planning, and all aspects of life. In other words "Gilligan Island" with mostly "Professors", "Skippers", and "Maryannes" working with more than rope, bamboo, and tropical trees.
It's the complete opposite of the "reality" show "Survivor" where the practical, experienced, knowledgable, and hard workers are consistently trounced by slacker, conniving fools who do below the minimum in adapting or utilizing their environments. If you enjoyed Pat Frank's "Alas Babylon", Leo Frankowski's "Cross-Time Engineer" series, S.M. Stirling's recent series, Jared Diamond's non-fiction books, Jack Whyte's Arthurian series, or history with an appreciation for engineering and science rather than just wars and diplomacy, you'll enjoy this thoughtful book that I thought was a fast enjoyable read. The author's actually built a lot of complex structures, managed large teams in high stress environments, and worked directly with the issues in the book, maybe that makes it a disappointing read for some of the reviewers compared to flights of fancy by independent authors who only manage a household or apartment.

Boring -- Don't Waste Your Time Reading This.......2006-05-30

Florman is a man of considerable erudition and has written several truly excellent non-fiction books -- indeed, his non-fiction work can reach poetic levels of elegance and I highly recommend it. Therefore, as a big Florman fan and a civil engineer myself, I had high hopes for this book.

Unfortunately, and somewhat ironically, this attempt at fiction is very dull and boring. I finished the book, but with considerable difficulty. As other reviewers have noted, the characters and plot are lifeless and lack any depth or power. Rather than give us any insight into the human condition, the best this book can offer is to present some snippets of technical and other information, but these things are much more enjoyably and effectively learned from appropriate non-fiction sources.

I wish I had listened to other reviewers and not wasted my time slogging through this book -- since I'm a big fan of Florman's non-fiction, I wanted to give this book a real chance. What I can do now is to urge others not to repeat my mistake.

Factual? Yes. Interesting? Not so much........2006-01-03

The Aftermath: A Novel of Survival by Samuel C. Florman is a very well-written book, although not very attention grabbing. It provides information on how to survive with the natural resources in Southern Africa when the world has been wiped out. Much of the book is meetings between the engineers aboard the Queen of Africa, a ship that survived the impact of a massive comet on Earth. The people in the meetings debate on how to prioritize their goals. Said meetings go on for pages, causing the reader to lose interest. The repetitiveness of the book gets annoying after reading it for about fifty pages. Since the Earth has been destroyed, for the most part, and their ship has sunk, the people have to start life from the beginning. There is also another group of people, who became named the Focus Group. They met in a line-dancing class and eventually just ended up talking about what was going on in the community. Wil Hardy, a scribe for the secret meetings, is part of this group. The others are not and don't know what happen at these secret meetings. There are six in this group, three girls, three boys, and they end up pairing together and getting married. That's very predictable, which usually snags the fun right out of a good read. Pretty boring, huh? Things get a tad bit exciting, however. Soon enough, a mad pirate queen, who has renamed herself Queen Ranavolana, tries to conquer Engineering Village, the village of the Queen of Africa's survivors. There is about one page of suspense, for she attacks in the middle of a wedding, the Focus Group's to be exact, and then her plan fails. The one interesting character that gets things moving gets shut down. That's where the interesting but ends. I would recommend this book for someone that likes boring books or has nothing better to do.

Buy it for any engineer you strongly dislike.......2004-11-16

This book is beyond bad. The premise is interesting: how a cruise ship full of engineers off the coast of Southern Africa handles the aftermath of the end of the world caused by a comet impact.

Well, if this novel is to be believed, the engineers take the event and its effects quite well, brushing the end of the world and the loss of family and friends aside with the same casual disregard they'd feel if they lost their favorite mug.

Most end of the world style novels attempt to grip you with how an ill-matched band of survivors come to terms with the catastrophe. Here, they are all engineers, so they form a number of subcomittees. There's no conflict, no disagreement, and absolutely no grasp of reality on the part of the author.

At some point his editor must have told Florman that a book about the end of the world requires at least a little conflict and not just lengthy treatises on the history of South Africa and lists of committee meetings. So he introduces a mad pirate queen. OK - I won't go there.

This book is ideal if you need something to prop up your wobbly desk.

What happened?!.......2003-12-23

This book started out great - the world has ended and cruise ship passengers find themselves alone in the world. Finally they get to Africa, realize their ship is sinking and evacuate. Once on land they begin to try to reinvent the technologies and materials of the industrial revolution.

This book would have been great, but it gets stuck in boring committie meetings that go on for pages. While it is interesting for a chapter or two, the reader eventually wonders when these people will just get to work!

Another problem - many of the ideas here are sexist. Women are automatically deligated to being the "housekeepers" of their homes and men made responsible for tasks in the workforce. Stephen Healey, one of the characters of the book, tells the committie:

"the individuals that i call the housekeepers-- mostly the mothers of our families -- work extremely hard... we can't send them out into fields and the factories if we hope to maintain a functioning society...we need them in the home to care for their families and to help put their shattered households back in order." (p. 117)

When batteries finally run out, the commitie realizes that they should use candles, and turn to the "three women in Engineering Village" who know how to dip and make candles.

Book Description

London, 1756. Panic fills the streets when the earth suddenly lurches forward and starts spinning out of control. Within moments, eleven days and nights flash through the sky, finally leaving the city in total darkness. Is the end of the world at hand? Agetta Lamian fears so. She's the young housemaid of Dr. Sabian Blake, a scientist who has recently acquired the Nemorensis, the legendary book said to unlock the secrets of the universe. Then Agetta overhears Dr. Blake's prophecy: a comet called Wormwood is headed toward London. . . .

Customer Reviews:

A very entertaining story mixed with adventure and suspense.......2007-09-16

I enjoyed the novel very much. I do not think the reader has to be aware of the bible's comet to enjoy the story (compared to the other reviewers). I enjoyed the variety of characters and how they were slowly woven into the story to bring the plot together. The story has greed (those who wanted to rule the world), a dangerous book called the Nemorensis, love, friendship, thieves, science, history (London 1756), regret of a fallen angel named Tegatus, and fantasy (a creature called Sekaris that likes to kill) to create a flavorful story. I enjoyed how the variety of characters met out of need or accident and how the fantasy was woven it to make everything plausible. I found "Wormwood" to be suspenseful and I could hardly put the book down.

Ok Book.......2006-10-19

I especially liked the story because it showed an alternative fictional version of the events the Bible perdicts. Mind you, the story could have been better because a lot of the book takes place in isolated event that do not come together until at the latest possible moment.

Wormwood is the comet the Bible speaks of that will dry out most of the oceans when it hits the Earth. But you have would have to know Biblical prophecy to understand some of what Taylor relates.

Yet, when I started reading the book, I was confused by some of the thing that were happening and it wasn't until halfway through that the book picked up. The characters were kind of watery and not really defined.

However, it is a very descriptive book and it did a good job of capturing some of the panic happening. Yet, there was still some mystery left that culd have been solved. And it does not end satisfactorily. It's not a page turner but it is an interesting read though that could have been put together more effectively.

I will not say don't read it but it is a book that you can read during your lunch hour.

Worm-eaten.......2005-09-26

G.P. Taylor struck out with his much-hyped debut, the tepid religious fantasy "Shadowmancer." And the follow-up, "Wormwood," is even less engaging than "Shadowmancer" was -- while it's fairly well written, it's loosely strung together with dull characters and a plodding plot.

In the mid 1700s, London is gripped by panic -- somehow the earth is overspinning, and suddenly stops so that London is plunged into permanent night. A young servant girl, Agetta, is terrified of what is going to happen, especially because her master, Kabbalah master and scientist Dr Sabian Blake, is predicting that a comet called Wormwood will strike the earth.

This information comes from the mysterious book, Nemorensis, that Blake was given by a stranger. The Nemorensis supposedly contains all the secrets of the universe. Unfortunately, the book also exerts a sinister influence over Agetta. But in an attic is Tegatus, an angelic being who might just be the savior London needs...

Religious fantasy, or fantasy with religious undertones, is not a bad thing -- J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and others allowed their religions to influence their life's work. But G.P. Taylor not only has the subtlety of a battering ram -- he's also quite boring. The story plods along in a string of little plot-related scenes, without building up much momentum.

One of the biggest problems is the way Taylor handles the fantastical elements of his book. Okay, there are weird creatures. Most fantasy books have those. But his seem to just be thrown into the mix for no apparent reason. His handling of superstition and science in the 1700s is sketchy at best, no matter how brilliant a scientist Blake is meant to be.

Taylor has a decent enough writing style, and he has a certain flair for description and atmosphere. But his style is also very repetitive and over-the-top -- where are the editors when you need them? What's worse, his idea of creating a fantasy world seems to be to just toss in a few weird elements that have nothing to do with the plot. The actual fantasy plot is just more of Taylor's lukewarm, generic Christian sentiments.

The characters are as thin as the pages. There are a lot of characters for a relatively slim fantasy book, and many of them are left underdeveloped. Blake and Agetta are the only ones who receive any character development, and that isn't saying much. Agetta in particular seems almost manic, considering how fast her moods swing. Tegatus is just freakin' boring.

G.P. Taylor strikes out again with "Wormwood," another dull religious fantasy that leaves a sour taste in the mouth. Boring, messy, and not worth the effort it takes to wade through.

Cascading comets: The key to ancient mysteries (Stonehenge Viewpoint Issue No. 109)

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Cascading comets: The key to ancient mysteries (Stonehenge Viewpoint Issue No. 109)
Donald L Cyr
Manufacturer: Stonehenge Viewpoint
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

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ASIN: B0006RUNJ0

Einstein Anderson Tells a Comet's Tale (Einstein Anderson)

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Einstein Anderson Tells a Comet's Tale (Einstein Anderson)
Seymour Simon
Manufacturer: Puffin
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Time Machine: And Other Cases (Einstein Anderson, Science Detective)
The On-Line Spaceman: And Other Cases (Einstein Anderson, Science Detective)

ASIN: 0140323023

The End of Eden: The Comet That Changed Civilization

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An intriguing 'must' new age collections will relish.

The End of Eden: The Comet That Changed Civilization
Graham Phillips
Manufacturer: Bear & Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1591430690
Release Date: 2007-06-09

Book Description

Presents compelling evidence that civilizations worldwide became warlike and monotheistic after Earth passed through the tail of a comet in 1500 B.C.

• Explores the violent effect of debris from comet 12P/Pons-Brooks on peaceful cultures such as the Olmec of Mexico and the Megalithic people who built Stonehenge

• Shows how this comet’s appearance was taken as a significant religious event that still has repercussions today

In the year 2024, the comet 12P/Pons-Brooks is due to pass near Earth again for the first time in 3,500 years. In 1500 B.C., Earth passed through this comet’s tail, and in the decade following, cultures the world over began to exhibit significant aggressive tendencies. Civilizations in India, the Middle East, China, Japan, Europe, and Central America suddenly abandoned their peaceful ways and devoted themselves with uncharacteristic fervor to making war on their neighbors and fighting among themselves.

But this was not the only effect that is linked to this celestial event. Sudden outbreaks of monotheism--the worship of a single god, and a new idea at the time--occurred simultaneously in locales spread widely throughout the world. Most of these monotheistic religions represented their god symbolically as a circle with a series of lines extending below--resembling a simple drawing of a comet.

In The End of Eden, Graham Phillips chronicles the sudden shifts in social demeanor and religious philosophy that swept the world in the wake of 12P/Pons-Brooks. He argues that there is no other explanation for these changes other than the presence of this massive comet in the skies above Earth. He contends that debris in the comet’s tail contaminated the atmosphere with a chemical known to cause aggressive behavior, and that after little more than a decade, worldwide hostility abruptly abated. He also explores how the appearance of a celestial body that outshone the moon would have been interpreted as a significant religious event--the premier appearance of a powerful new god to supplant the deities previously worshipped around the world.

Customer Reviews:

An intriguing 'must' new age collections will relish........2007-09-04

Graham Phillips' THE END OF EDEN; THE COMET THAT CHANGED CIVILIZATION details the shifts in social demeanor and religious thinking that helped shape the world in the wake of a massive comet which appeared in the sky in 1500 BC, when the comet 12P/Pons-Brooks' tail engulfed Earth. In the comet's wake cultures became more aggressive, abandoning prior peaceful ways and making wars - and monotheism arise. THE END OF EDEN details the comet's influences on these changes and also maintains the comet's tail held a chemical known to cause aggressive behavior. An intriguing 'must' new age collections will relish.

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Mystery At Ding- Dong Gulch
Carter
Manufacturer: J. B. Lippincott Company
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Comets, Meteors & Asteroids | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B000E59GLK

Mystery Comets (Smithsonian library of the solar system)

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Mystery Comets (Smithsonian library of the solar system)
Whipple
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall & IBD
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Book Description

In this book, one of the world’s foremost authorities on comets takes us on a voyage of discovery from the earliest speculations on the meaning of comets to his own pioneering research into both the nature of comets and the mysteries of our solar system. Professor Whipple begins by examining the earliest observations and notions of comets from the first recorded observation by the Chinese in 2315 B.C. to the cosmogonies and mythologies of the Babylonians and the Mayans. He then carries us step by step from the exciting time when Sir Isaac Newton formulated the law of gravity and Edmund Halley made the first correct prediction of a comet’s return, up to a heady glimpse of extraterrestrial exploits still to come - the space missions to Halley’s comet and the first landing on a comet, tentatively planned for 1995. In so doing, he addresses basic but long elusive questions about comets: Where do they come from? Do they die? Why do some comets seemingly defy gravity? What is the landscape of a comet like? Why does the head of a comet change when it draws near the sun?

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the mystery of comets
whipple
Manufacturer: smithsonian
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000V8W5NG

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Scrapyard (Comets)
Andy Soutter , and Satoshi Kitamua
Manufacturer: A & C Black (Childrens books)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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